Welcome to Kicking Off, the quick way to get to grips with the day's Scottish sports agenda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today

 

 

What happens next?

The Herald:

SFA President Alan McRae flanked by ex-Celt Lubo Moravcik and sponsors' representative Brian McColgan as the planners dream goes wrong at the Scottish Cup draw

 

Grateful for support

The Herald:

Leigh Griffiths has thanked supporters from rival clubs for the support he has been given after suffering online abuse

 

 

All will be 'Well

The Herald:

Chris Cadden expresses confidence that Motherwell's luck is set to turn on the field on the day they get something of a break off it

 

Unbeatable leader?

The Herald:

Ronny reckons his stuttering Celts can avoid another loss between now and the end of the season as they chase the double

 

Set to quit Firhill scene

The Herald:

Stuart Bannigan promises to give his all as he admits his departure from Firhill is imminent

 

Ready for challenge

The Herald:

New SPFL board member Karyn McCluskey set to bring her experience of involvement in Violence Reduction Unit to Scottish football

 

Park lifeThe Herald:

 

Donald Park (centre) on the rise of youth at Hearts and Hibs

 

Getting a different perspective

The Herald:

Ace pundit Gary Neville is finding life very different in management

 

Manyana man

The Herald:

Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys is the latest from within the Scotland camp to offer the view that better times are round the corner as Six Nations losing run reaches record level and national team drops out of world's top 10

 

You were really rubbish... no, no, no, you were much worse

The Herald:

Vaunted quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Cam Newton share the love after both were snuffed out by the opposition defences in Superbowl 50

 

06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines

Celtic to host Morton after draw malfunction sees them avoid trip to Dundee United... United now face difficult trip to Dingwall... holders Inverness Caley to visit Hearts or Hibs... Rangers or Killie to host Dundee or Dumbarton...  Scotland forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys insists the team can expect good times around the corner despite worst ever run of Six Nations defeats 

 

06.32 Radio Five Live sports headlines

Fifth placed Championship side Derby controversially sack manager Paul Clement after just eight months in charge... Chelsea's Kurt Zouma out for rest of season after suffering ugly knee injury... Everton close to £200 million takeover deal with San Diego Padres owners... draw for Scottish Cup quarter-finals made eventually... England add back-row forward Matt Kvesic and Josh Beaumont to training squad ahead of Six Nations visit to Italy... Huddersfield Giants half-back Luke Robinson forced to retire from game due to hip injury

 

The Back Pages

The National leads with SFA President Alan McCrae peering into the Scottish Cup goldfish bowl after the draw goes wrong, The Herald has Leigh Griffiths applauding the reaction of rival club's fans to the online abuse he and his family have received, while in The Evening Times John 'Bomber' Brown says Rangers are now ready to meet Celtic and would have welcomed meeting them in the Scottish Cup 

 

The Herald:

 

The Herald:

 

The Herald:

 

Grandstanding - today's Scottish sports comment

In The National Martin Hannan considers the damaging impact of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and whether they should be banned and Mike Blair, the former Scotland captain, maintains that the team is due to come good, while in The Herald Tuesday is golf day and this week Nick Rodger looks at the way Hideki Matsuyama, Japan’s current top player, won his second PGA Tour title on Sunday amid the rowdy crowds of Phoenix Open

The Herald:

Hideki Matsuyama, rising star from the land of the rising sun

 

Sporting Twitterati

Inevitably the Scottish Cup draw has provided something of a field day for social media users

 

 

 

 

Behind the Headlines

Three decades ago Scots were winning Grand Slams, in the midst of a record run of qualifications for World Cup finals, winning golfing majors... successfully pulling eight balls out of a bag without incident.

What went wrong? The rise of the sports administrator, now a multi-million pound industry in Scotland alone, would seem to be the answer. As more and more resources have been seized by men in suits so we have become less and less competitive on the field of play.

Yesterday's shambles of a Scottish Cup draw was just the latest example and the further 18 month delay of punishment for Motherwell over matters that took place last season shows no-one involved in a good light either.

The question for most sports is what to do about it? If there is one thing sports administrators have proven themselves exceptionally good at it is protecting their own positions, making it very hard for those involved at grassroots level to challenge them, but increasingly the evidence is that Scottish sport is going nowhere until sufficient people are prepared to devote the time and energy to working out what can be done.

All of which said we can only wish the latest to join the fold well. As 'a former nurse and qualified forensic psychologist who hails from a Falkirk council estate' Karyn McCluskey, newly appointed to the SPFL board, has a background which may useful in a variety of ways when it comes to dealing with career administrators. 

 

Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow with another day's Scottish sports agenda.